This is the often-asked question regarding the training of young gun dogs. There are many different ways to teach whoa. Whoa is taught to help each pup understand to hold his/her point after pup has already established point on his own. We never “whoa” a dog into a point. We teach the dog to naturally go on point by using strong flying quail/pigeons that pup can’t catch.
After setting the dog up in a few training situations that teaches pup that he can’t catch the birds, the well-bred pup will naturally start on his own. This is when we kill a bird for pup to help develop desire (don’t do this unless you have already performed proper sound conditioning). Later, after some considerable training, we will use the calmly stated reminder “whoa” so he can be steadied to wing. We believe that the first commands to teach pup are coming to his name using soft techniques and teaching pup to cease inappropriate activities when told “NO.” You might want to consider another command other than “NO” because it can confuse pup when you later teach the “WHOA” command. We do not believe that the command “sit” is appropriate at the beginning phases of training since it often times confuses pup when teaching whoa. ‘Sit’ won’t ruin the pup but may cause training delays because you now have to teach the difference between the two. The problem with sit is that when you begin to teach whoa it may become his default posture since whoa is a controlling command and pup will want to sit.
Let’s make it clear how important whoa is: It can save a pups life! Pup must learn this command and learn it well. Whoa can keep pup from bolting in front of a car or any other terrible situation you can think of, not to mention that it a fundamental yard working command that lays the foundation for the pup when it’s time for field work. A dog taught whoa properly will not creep, bust, or chase. It is not a command you will want to use on birds every time for the rest of pups life, instead, it is a command to help bridge understanding. Pup must learn that it is to stay standing until released.
We teach whoa at about the same time that pup has learned “heel” .We teach heel first because it is an easy command to teach and it is a very good controlling command that doesn’t harm hunting spirit. Heel is the ‘jumping off point’ for all other yard field work commands that follow. It ties together the command to whoa as well as keeping the dog’s head up. For a dog to point with style, they need to understand that they should carry themselves in the field with their head up to efficiently find game and to stay steady at whoa when they find game. They also come to understand that when they are released from heel with the double whistle/tap, they are to start running, hunting, and having fun. The heel command does not affect them mentally in the field unless improperly applied.
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